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Peter Molyneux to be Honored at Gamelab 2011

The father of the so-called God games "Populous" and "Black & White" will receive a career achievement award in Barcelona.

MADRID - English computer game pioneer Peter Molyneux will be honored at the Gamelab 2011 conference for the impact of his 25-year career, organizers announced Friday.

Molyneux is presently Creative Director at Microsoft Game Studios after Mircrosoft acquired his Lionhead Studios in 2006. Through Lionhead, Molyneux had created titles like Black & White -- which has sold more than 2 million copies -- and Xbox exclusive Fable.

But Molyneux's career not only spans a range of products, he is credited with revolutionizing gaming with the God games Dungeon Keeper,Populous and Black & White, among others, as well as creating business simulation games such as Theme Park.

He was knighted by the Imperial British Order in 2005 and awarded the title of Chevalier del'Ordre des Artes et des Lettres by the French government in March 2007. In July 2007, he was awarded an honorary degreeof Doctor of Science in March 2011, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Game Developers Choice Awards received a BAFTA Fellowship at the 2011 British Academy Video Games Awards.

Aside from Molyneux's career achievement award, organizers announced Richard Bartle, creator of the first interactive virtual world, Siobhan Reddy, director of Media Molecule, and Daniel Kaplan, Minecraft's business director, will attend the conference.

Gamelab is backed by the Spanish Culture Ministry, the Association of Videogame Developers of Spain, Spain's Foreign Trade Institute and the regional Catalan government. It will run in Barcelona from June 29-July 1.